Boyata 'with teammates' as transfer-linked defender offers update

The Hoops travelled to the Greek capital with the third qualifying round tie evenly poised at 1-1 from the first leg, but found themselves two goals down after 50 minutes.

The Dutch side's reward is an intriguing clash with Dynamo Kiev, who eliminated Slavia Prague 3-1 on aggregate after goals by Benjamin Verbic and Artem Besedin fired the Ukrainian side to a 2-0 home win over the Czechs.

Within six minutes his side were trailing to a Rodrigo Galo strike and it looked a forlorn task when Croatian striker Marko Livaja headed in a second five minutes after the break.

And while this left Celtic short for their vital Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens, the Northern Irishman has made a major statement.

His agent, Jacques Lichtenstein, was subsequently quoted as saying that, because the Belgium defender is in the final year of his Celtic contract, he could not afford to risk playing when not 100% fit. "We gave AEK a lot of problems but you have to defend properly and we didn't do that".

Celtic'sChampions League hopes came crashing down on Tuesday night - and Swansea City duo Oli McBurnie and George Byers have taken great joy in their defeat.

"I don't want to make excuses", added Rodgers.

Celtic drop into the Europa League play-off round, where they will face Latvia's Spartaks Jurmala or Suduva Marijampole of Lithuania. "I've always said we needed to strengthen (in the transfer window) and hopefully we can do that now".

Brendan Rodgers' side will need to find a way to score a goal tonight if they are to progress to the group stage of football's most prestigious competition, with the away goals rule in effect.

Northern California blazes now largest in state history
Another blaze that erupted last week has damaged a historic Northern California resort in the Stanislaus National Forest. Wind swept flames from the Ranch fire threaten the town of Nice near Upper Lake, California, on August 3, 2018.

Mom accused of killing daughter had been previously cleared
The mother of a 4-year-old girl was charged with murder after throwing the child into the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. Police spokesman Steve Hegarty told the Times that police arrested the woman after she was found walking close to the scene.

NASA Taps Georgia Tech Alumnus for Historic Space Mission
The SpaceX crewed test flight, now scheduled for April 2019, will be flown by NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley . Chris Ferguson and Marine Corps test pilot Nicole Mann , who will conduct the first Starliner flight test sometime in mid-2019.

DOD releases 4-part plan for Space Force
During remarks at the Pentagon, Pence said the goal is for the Space Force to be operational by 2020. Pence said the White House already has been working with Congress to develop the plan.

6 arrested over alleged drone attack on Venezuela's Maduro
The far right in both Venezuela and Colombia , along with outgoing Colombian President Santos, plotted the attack, Maduro charged. Venezuela, a once-wealthy oil-producing nation, is in the midst of a five-year crisis under Maduro's socialist government.